Married but filing separately questing. I make 93k and my wife makes 5k. Can she file and claim 2 kids to get a 12k return and I file and claim 1 and owe 2k ish? Legal?

[allgire60]

All estimated numbers obviously but is this legal. If we file jointly we get 4K ish so if this was legal we would get 10k after I paid the 2k that I would owe.

[GeorgeDenseff]

That is legal.  The only way to see if it will really benefit you is to do the two separate returns and a joint return and see what the results are in each case.  In cases with this much income discrepancy, it is possible that you would come out ahead even with taking standard deduction and losing some credits.  There is no federal law saying that you have to split the income in any way.  

With giving up the Earned Income, Child Tax and other credits, your wife may not get much of a rotund.

[VolvoGirl]

FYI - there are some things to know about filing Separately.......

Many people think they come out better when filing Married Filing Separate but they are probably doing it wrong. If one person itemizes deductions then the other one must itemize too, even if it's less than the standard deduction, even if it is ZERO!

And there are several credits you can't take when filing separately, like the

EITC Earned Income Tax Credit

Child Care Credit

Educational Deductions and Credits

And contributions to IRA and ROTH IRA are limited when you file MFS.

Also if you file Married Filing Separately up to 85`% of your Social Security becomes taxable right away even with zero other income.

See …….
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/married/help/is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-...

[RobertB4444]

No.  That sounds too good to be true because it is.

First, you need to look at the rules for your state.  Certain states have rules about how to spread out income across married couples when they file separately.

Second,  when you file separately one of the first credits to disappear is the child tax credit.  The IRS saw this one coming.

Third, never forget that if one spouse itemizes deductions the other one must as well!